


Ice, Fire & Abject Humiliation

by lha



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017), The Worst Witch - All Media Types
Genre: Episode: s02e13 The Big Freeze, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post Season 2, Season/Series 03 Spoilers, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-01-15 16:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18503023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lha/pseuds/lha
Summary: The founding stone has been re-lit and the school has once again avoided catastrophe but Hecate struggles in the aftermath.





	1. Chapter 1

Hecate’s relief at being released from the grip of the ice was short lived as she pushed her own feelings aside to address what it was that was happening in front of her. If she felt peculiar then it was no more than she had when they had been surrounded by the ice in her potions lab, or when she had used the very last of her magic as well as Ada’s, Maud’s and Enid’s to punch her way free. It wasn’t until they were making their way back down the stairs that she took enough time to catalogue how every strange she was currently feeling. 

The Hallow girls were talking behind her, their voices rising and falling in agreement and dissent about whether Ethel really would have done what she had offered too. Hecate reached out a hand to rest on the wall, steadying herself as the spiral stone stairs seemed to fall away and then rise up to meet her. She had watched as Ethel insisted that she would make the sacrifice, frozen in action even before the ice had claimed her entirely.

“Miss Hardbroom?” Esmeralda asked, causing Ada to look up from where she was walking in front of them.

“Apologies,” Hecate said, straightening up and focussing on putting one foot in front of another to catch up with the rest of the party. 

While Ada made contact with the evacuated faculty to let them know it was safe to return with the students and then the Grand Wizard to inform him about Marigold Mould, Hecate ushered the students who had been frozen into her lab.

“Would you be good enough to play mother?” Hecate asked Ms Hubble, gesturing towards her tea service.

“Oh, of course,” she said, sounding genuinely surprised. “Is there a kettle?” Hecate twisted her fingers and with a wave of spell-less magic set the water boiling. The magic in her veins seemed to rush, tingle and recede in the wake of the action but it was back and she was in control.

“Thanks,” the woman said, offering her an uncertain smile. Hecate raised an eyebrow in response before turning to her potions shelves and selecting several restorative and strengthening elixirs.

“Miss Spellbody please lay out seven glasses,” she requested unstopping the flasks.

“Seven Miss Hardbroom?”

“That is how many of you there are here is it not?” she asked turning her pointed look on Maude and resisting the urge to look around the room and check her own arithmetic.

“I think,” Enid piped up. “That what Maud meant was that you and Miss Cackle were frozen too and that maybe you should have some potion as well.”

“I… neither Miss Cackle nor I are an underage witch,” Hecate countered.

“Still,” Ms Hubble said holding out a teacup in her direction. “If it’s not going to do any harm, it might put some colour back in your cheeks.”

“Oh Miss Hardbroom is always that pa…” Mildred piped up from where she was handing out more tea. “Never mind,” the girl said as she turned to look at her.

“It wouldn’t do any harm,” Esmeralda said. 

“Oh very well then,” she conceded, unable to find the energy to put up much more of a fight. “Please drink your tea, take your potions and then you will go to your rooms to rest quietly for at least two hours.”

“Yes Miss Hardbroom,” they chorused in anything but unison. She filled the glasses now resting on the table with a steady hand ensuring that her dosing was generous but well within the limits of safety.

“Can I put some sugar in that for you?” Ms Hubble asked coming to stand beside her as the others all chatted away.

“Sugar?”

“In your tea. It’s good for shock.”

“I have not had…” she began only to realise the sheer lunacy of the statement. “Thank you for the offer Ms Hubble, but I will decline.”

“Well go on then,” the other woman said leaning against the desk and crossing her legs as though she were quite at home. Hecate arched an eyebrow. “Tea, potions, rest - wasn’t it?” 

The urge to snap was strong but both the fact that she and her daughter had however saved the school and everyone in it less than hour ago, as well as the way her head was aching staved off the instinct. Instead she simply sat down in the nearest chair and focussed on absorbing the heat from the cup she was clasping.

Just as the students were returning their cups and glasses to her desk and heading out to their rooms, Ada appeared.

“The girls are going to rest for a few hours,” Hecate said, cutting off their excitable chatter at the arrival of the Headmistress.

“An excellent idea Hecate. Oh, I do hope one of those is for me?” she continued, gesturing to the remaining doses of potion.

“Of course,” she said, taking her own before Ms Hubble felt the need to remind her of it again.

“The events of the day have left me really quite out of sorts but I’m sure your brew will set me to rights.”

“It’s just some strengthening and reviving elixirs,” she said turning her head away from the compliment. “You don’t require anything else? There’s nothing more serious the matter?” The concern was more evident in her tone than she might have liked given they weren’t alone

“A cup of tea and forty winks wouldn’t go amiss but I really will be fine Hecate. And yourself my dear?” she asked, her insightful bluntness harder to deflect.

“Quite well thank you. What did the Grand Wizard have to say?”

“He will be collecting Miss Mould shortly. The rest of the staff and students are on their way back up and should be ensconced well before then.”

“It will be… reassuring to have all of our charges back underneath our roof.”

“That it will,” Ada agreed. “And surviving such a… thrilling challenge is well worth celebrating don’t you think? Today of all days.”

Hecate knew what it was she was suggesting before any more was said and her blood ran cold at the very idea. Ada’s eyes were twinkling though and she wasn’t going to change her mind on this point.

“Of course,you must stay Ms Hubble,” the Headmistress continued turning to their unexpected guest. “Our All Hallows Eve celebration shall quite the sight this year!” It had hardly been something Hecate was looking forward to before… everything. Now, if she were being frank with herself, all she wanted was to see the students safe, Miss Mould removed from the premises and then to crawl into a bath and then her bed.

“Well,” she said, standing and then having to try valiantly to cover the way the world rippled in front of her eyes. “I’m happy to oversee the handover of Miss Mould if you would like to focus on the returning girls and the preparations for the festivities?”

“That would be most agreeable Hecate.” she said. “Thank you.”

Calling on her magic to transfer herself yo the empty storage closet where Marigold was being held, Hecate stumbled as she rematerialised. The wall stopped her from losing her balance entirely but she had to cling to rough surface while the world spun and dipped around her. It had been a thoughtless act, one she usually performed countless times a day and usually with far more grace. She could feel the magic flowing through her veins so she didn’t think it was a lack of power was the problem but she was still half-frozen and in that moment her legs seemed disinclined to help her keep upright. Several deep breaths later however and she was at least confident that she wasn’t about disgrace herself by losing the meagre contents of her stomach.

While she would never condone Marigold Mould’s behaviour, Hecate was all too aware that she had already paid an almost unfathomable price. Her own feelings on the matter were so deeply tied in with the sensations of being trapped, of her honest intention to sacrifice her own magic and then watching one of her students do just that. She had tried to do her best to be supportive while they had waited but it was hardly her greatest strength on a good day. Once the Great Wizard had left with Miss Mould, Hecate turned and keen not to repeat the unpleasant arrival of earlier, began to walk up towards her rooms. 

The sound of the students echoing through the corridors was both reassuring and grating against her raw nerves. Spirits were clearly running high on the back of yet another catastrophe narrowly averted, and more than once she was almost bowled over by someone careening around the corridor. The walk took longer than she felt it ought, and by the time she reached her own door she was once again aware of just how little she usually walked these days. There was no need really when she hadn’t left the grounds in three decades and everything within the castle was well within her teleportation reach. Still, to find herself feeling short of breath and her legs shaking with the exertion was frankly galling. 

Sitting on the edge of the bed she closed her eyes, waiting for her pulse to slow and her breathing to settle. Her stomach was rolling but she wasn’t certain if that was a side effect of the pounding in her her skull, or the knot of anxiety that was still tight in her chest.

“Hecate?” The voice from her mirror was so unexpected that she jumped. “Hecate? Are you alright?”

“Pippa?” she asked, turning to look at her mirror. “What are…?”

“I heard that there had been a problem with Cackle’s founding stone and I had to make sure... Are you alright?”

“There was,” she said. “It was extinguished temporarily but the problem has been resolved.”

“Well there’s clearly more to that story, but it’ll wait until you’re not so obviously exhausted. You are all ok though no one has been hurt?”

“As you say… it is complicated. Miss Mould is the only one to have experienced any lasting effects however.”

“You look absolutely done in, Hecate.”

“I will admit to having felt better,” she conceded.

“But your magic?”

“Has returned and seems stable. I am simply… tired.”

“Well it must be bad if you are willing to admit that much. I’ll not keep you, but you know where I am if there’s anything I can do.”

“That’s… very kind.”

“Look after yourself Hiccup,” Pippa said, with a fond smile that sent _something_ coursing through her. Checking the time, she realised that she had no time to contemplate it any further though or, to continue to feel sorry for herself.

Tamping down on anything that wasn’t purely practical, Hecate dressed in her formal robes her only concession to any lingering weakness was in donning several extra layers. She wasn’t sure whether it was the memory of the all pervading ice or just creeping exhaustion but she couldn’t shake the chill settling in her bones. The event itself was possibly no worse than any other of it’s type she had endured but today she simply didn’t have the tolerance for it. Having listened to Ada make her speech, she retreated to the door, away from the worst of it hoping to simply wait out the end of the festivities.

Only Mildred Hubble would fail to read the signals she was certain was exuding and come to stand directly beside her. Never before had a student proven so incredibly infuriating and yet repeatedly prove themselves to be fundamentally gifted and prone to saving them all. Hecate meant what she had said to Mildred about holding her to a higher standard and she had hoped that she had masked any growing fondness she might be developing. Transporting herself away had been a last ditch attempt at maintaining her usual air of impenetrable strictness. She’d only moved out into the corridor but when she rematerialised this time, her knees did give out and she found herself sitting on the cold stone flags.

She was shivering almost convulsively now but for the first time in what felt like days, it felt like there was fire in her veins instead of ice. Pressing a trembling hand to her mouth she breathed through her nose desperate not to give in to the rising urge to vomit. This would pass, it wouldn’t last forever. She just had to breathe, try desperately not to disgrace herself and it would pass. As long as no one found her sprawled here, it would all be fine.

“Miss Hardbroom?” Of the long list of people she had hoped not to fund her, this trio of first years were near the top. Beatrice Bunch asked, what was possibly the most redundant question ever;

“Are you ok Miss Hardbroom?” 

“Of course she’s not Bea,” Miss Twigg said bluntly. “Go and fetch a teacher.”

“You really don’t look very well Miss Hardbroom,” Sybil Hallow said, much more closely and thankfully quietly than the others. “Worse than before even.” Hecate couldn’t put much thought into this particular revelation because the world was strangely unsteady again and while she hoped for a moment that it was the floor opening up to swallow her, her luck was simply not that good.

“Hecate?” It was Dimiti and if nothing else at least she could trust that someone vaguely competent was now in control. Hecate attempted to say something but it was mostly an undignified groan. “Let’s give her some room girls,” she said, clearly before lowering her voice significantly. “Here, just in case,” she said, conjuring a basin before reaching up to place a hand on her forehead. “Oh Hecate, you’re burning up.” Ice, fire and abject humiliation Hecate thought briefly as she lurched forward over the basin and was violently sick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you've enjoyed! I'd love to hear your thoughts here or over on twitter (@LHA_again)  
> Thanks for reading  
> Lx


	2. Chapter 2

Ada was quite contentedly watching the festivities as the girls and danced to the rousing tune Gwen was playing on the organ. If nothing else, the students had certainly needed an outlet for all their excitement and if the volume of noise they were creating they were letting off absolutely every last ounce of steam. 

“Miss Cackle?” Ms Hubble’s tone was concerned as she gestured to her from the side door.

“Is something the matter Ms Hubble?”

“I’m afraid Miss Hardbroom seems to have been taken ill,” she said, turning immediately to lead her down the hallway. “Some of the students found her and came for help. I may not know much about magic but I am a nurse and she really doesn’t look well.”

As they rounded the corner, Ada saw the small crowd of girls hanging back but clearly watbching what was happening. They parted to let her through, their muted greetings and chatter as telling as anything. Dimiti was seated on the flagstones all but holding Hecate upright, whose head was hanging over a basin and arms were trembling with the effort required to prop herself up.

“Girls,” she said, not looking away from the scene in front of her. “Thank you but I need you to back into the hall now.”

“Let’s go ladies,” Ms Hubble said, falling quite naturally into a role of leadership. “Miss Cackle and Miss Drill will look after HB but the best thing that you can do is go and join everyone else.”

“Hecate?” Ada asked, kneeling down next to them. “Oh my poor dear,” she sighed. She should have known that there was something amiss with her deputy earlier, she had been positively grey when she arrived in the hall that evening and while she had clearly not been in favour of the gathering, her opposition to the entire idea had been nominal.

“Sorry I… I just need a moment,” Hecate breathed without raising her head. The basin in front of her was empty but there was the distinct smell of a cleansing charm in the air. 

“You need more than that,” Dimti said. “She’s burning up,” she added, as an aside to Ada. The headmistress reached out to place a hand on Hecate’s shoulder and could feel the heat radiating off her.

“Let’s get you to your rooms,” she said gently, knowing how much Hecate must be hating being exposed this way. There was a quiet noise of reluctant agreement, and she allowed Ada and Dimiti to help her slowly stand.

“HB?” the games mistress asked, before they’d taken a single step, clearly realising something was wrong at almost the same moment as Ada did. Hecate went down so quickly that she almost took both of them with her and it was at least partly luck that her skull didn’t crack off the flagstones. 

While they couldn’t justify having a dedicated nurse on staff, both Dimity Drill and Hecate were more than qualified in first aid and the basics of everyday healthcare. Their very different temperaments had proven them an effective team for almost a decade and while they had dispatched the occasional student away for more professional care, those had been rare cases. This meant that usually, all Ada had to do was pay the occasional visit to a recovering student and field all Parental calls which both women avoided like the plague.

Now though Ada watched frozen as Dimiti working, rolling Hecate onto her side, positioning her so that she was stable, her own hand cushioning her cheek.

“Her pulse is thready,” she reported. “HB? Can you hear me? Come on, I need you to open your eyes old girl, just for a minute.” She was unfastening the back of Hecate’s dress, clearly trying to cool her down and in the process unveiling the long thin scars Ada had known existed but never seen. Ada turned away, swallowing thickly at the surge of distress she felt at seeing the proof of what it was that Hecate had survived. She had intended to conjure a shielding charm to give them some privacy but she found Julie Hubble jogging towards them.

“Is there anything I can do?” she asked, clearly in professional mode.

“Here,” Dimiti said, conjuring a bowl of water and a cloth. The other woman needed no further instruction as she wrung out the cloth and began wiping down the exposed skin. Ada, cast the shield around the four of them, determined to offer Hecate at least a little privacy.

“Do you know what might be causing this?” the nurse asked. 

“It could be an infection but…” Dimiti glanced back at Ada. “She’s had two major potions exposures in the last ten days and then… everything that happened today.”

“Two?” Ada asked, her stomach dropping. The love potion had not been a sterling moment even in a term like this one but had there been an accident in one of Hecate’s classes?

“She doesn’t know this,” Dimiti said, checking to see that the Deputy Head still hadn’t rowsed. “The first years dosed her with a personality changing potion while you were in front of the Council.”

“They WHAT!” Ada purposefully closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

“I know.. But they learnt their lesson and I didn’t think it would do anyone any good to make it a matter of public record.” Ada might be livid that one of her staff members and friends had been violated that way, and that she hadn’t even known but she understood what it was that Dimity meant. Besides, they’d hardly had a moment to all catch up with each other in the last few weeks.

“How are you feeling?” the games mistress asked, looking at her pointedly. “You were the only other fully matured witch to be affected.” 

“Fine,” Ada said, trying to catch up with herself. “Well, not fine. I’m tired and I’m worried but I’m not…” she gestured feebly to Hecate who still hadn’t shown any signs of waking.

“Is there any reason that this might affect one person more than someone else?” Ms Hubble asked, her own concern plain in her tone.

“Witches don’t just _have_ magic,” Ada began, trying desperately not to think of when she’d last heard this explanation. “We are magic.”

“It’s not an unreasonable proposition that an adult witch who’s biology has lived alongside their developed magic for longer, and who has greater magic to begin with, would be more affected by exposure to a magical black spot. There hasn’t been much research done though, for obvious reasons.”

“Thankfully the death of a founding stone is a rare phenomenon indeed and there’s little else that causes them.”

“Hecate is a remarkably powerful witch though. I’m sure Ada won’t mind me saying, that she’s by far the strongest of us on the staff.”

“Not at all,” Ada agreed as it was entirely true. She was a woman of many talents but she was quite capable of acknowledging that she was not in the same league of prestigious raw talent or power as Hecate Constance Hardbroom. “She’s also been in close proximity of the founding stone for most of her adult life.” Ada added, a blossom of deeper concern growing in her.

“I know that HB doesn’t often like to leave the rest of us unsupervised,” Dimiti said, clearly trying for a little levity but not entirely succeeding in masking her own concern. She was looking at Ada in a way that only made her realise she was going to have to be honest.

“I need your assurance, both of your assurances,” she said, her voice trembling despite her best intention. “That what I am about to tell you will be treated with the utmost confidence. As part of a patient record.”

“Of course,” Julie said, her face serious.

“Ada,” there was a note of warning in Dimiti’s tone.

“Hecate hasn’t left the school in twenty-nine years. She can’t.” There was a heavy silence until Dimity spoke again;

“Can’t as in her anxiety won’t let her,” she said quietly, showing the insight that Ada had so often valued in her. “Or… physically can’t.”

“She was… she has been bound to this place.”

“As a punishment?” Dimiti asked.

“It was a sentence bestowed upon her, yes.”

“For thirty years?” Julie said, seeming almostly absently to brush the loose strands away from Hecate’s forehead. Ada nodded, unable to form the words to say just how long Hecate would continue to be bound.

“Well that’s settled,” Dimiti said. “If she hasn’t been outside of the influence of the founding stone in that long then I’m sure that has something to do with this. What _this_ is, I’m less sure.”

“I..” Julie began sounding a little hesitant. “I know that this might not be… I know you said it was magical but...”

“I’ll take anything at the moment,” Dimity said frankly.

“I just wondered if… it could be something like graft versus host. Not exactly but...”

“Graft versus host?” Dimiti asked, much to Ada’s relief.

“In some cases we have to transplant healthy bone marrow or stem cells from someone else, a donor, into a patient as part of their treatment. The graft, the healthy transplanted material, sometimes attacks the patient’s own cells as it sees them as foreign. The stone was re-lit using donor magic, I just wondered…”

“If it was different enough that it could cause a reaction in Hecate’s body which was so imbued with the original magic of the stone?” Dimiti finished.

“Like I said, I don’t even know how different one witch’s magic is from anothers.”

“Magic does vary,” Ada said thoughtfully. “And goddess knows that Miss Mould’s was about as different from Hecate’s as it could be.” Marigold Mould had felt as though her power was as wild as nature, free form and unpredictable in it’s creativity. Everything about Hecate was focussed, refined and purified, including her magic.

“It does make sense but I can’t begin to imagine what we can do to cure it.” Her frustration was evident in her tone.

“We may not need to,” Ada said as her mind finally seemed to begin to whir back to life. “The magical signature of founding stones adapts over time. There is documented research about how they change in response to changes in leadership in covens and schools, particularly when there isn’t a continuation of a family line. The Cackle’s stone changed just from having Hecate here so consistently her magical core is so strong.”

“Ok, well…” Dimiti said with a sigh. “Well first things first, we need to get her off this bloody floor and then we’ll try and treat the symptoms. And I want to take a look at you too Ada,” she added. “You spend the vast majority of your time in close proximity to the founding stone too.” The younger woman was a talented witch in her own right, as well as a remarkable sportswoman, but despite how easy Hecate made it look, transferring other people, was not a common skill.

“Her pulse is better,” Julie offered. “But she’s still pretty out of it.” Ada gently probed her own magical reserves, sounding out her own ability.

“I can transfer us up to Hecate’s rooms, or the infirmary?”

“You take Hecate up to her room,” Dimity said. “We’ll walk. No use in tiring you out any more than we have to.” Ada gave her a tight nod, wishing she felt confident enough in her own abilities at the moment that she could insist it would be fine.

“You don’t mind if we monopolise you a little further Ms Hubble?”

“Monopolise away,” she said with a reassuring smile.

“We’ll be right up,” Dimity said.

Ada knelt again, and placed a hand on Hecate’s shoulder and another on her hip before concentrating with unusual fervour on her deputy’s rooms.

They re-materialised with an ungainly snap that would have had Hecate rolling her eyes in disdain had she been awake to see it. Ada had however managed to direct them so that they landed square in the centre of the bed but her pride in this was short lived. Beneath her hands Hecate was jerking unnaturally; her limbs twisting and her head thrashing against the mattress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you've enjoyed! I'd love to hear your thoughts :)  
> Lx  
> @LHA_again


	3. Chapter 3

Once Ada and Hecate had vanished, Dimiti stood and offered Julie Hubble a hand.

“It’s not like this every day is it?” Julie asked with an uncertain smile.

“No,” Dimiti admitted. “This is pretty bad, even for us.”

“Good. That’s good,” she said with a chuckle.

“We had better get going,” Dimiti said heading off in the direction of the faculty quarters. “I need to think about how we’re going to treat Hecate. Who knows how long it’s going to take for there to be any change in the signature of the founding stone.”

“GvHD is treated by managing symptoms and curbing the natural immune response,” Julie offered as they began to walk.

“I don’t... “ Dimiti said pausing and trying to gather her thoughts. “My first instinct is to remove her from the influence of the founding stone but…” She trailed off unable to complete the thought, the magnitude of what it was that Ada had shared with them. 

Her first instinct had been to refute the statement, Dimiti couldn’t comprehend that this could have been going on… this punishment, and she hadn’t even realised. There would be time later to trawl through her memories but even now she suddenly realised how easy it was to misinterpret carefully chosen words. _’Some time away’_ , was the phrase Hecate would always use, away from what or whom she never said and when prompted as to where, she would simply say _away_. 

Away from whoever was asking the question? Away from the very spot where they were standing? There were turrets and hidden rooms all over the castle. The idea that on those rare occasions when Dimiti had thought that HB was finally taking some time for herself she had in fact been locked up somewhere, hiding… anger and heartbreak were fighting in her chest for the right to have her cry. 

Hecate could only have been a child when she was bound if that was how long it had been since she had left. This wasn't the time though. There would be questions later, in the name of medical necessity if that’s what it tooked. She and Hecate shared a responsibility for the wellbeing of the staff as well as the students, therefore Dimiti was responsible for the other woman. It wouldn’t have been the first time she’d had to act for her best interest, the double pneumonia incident of a couple of years ago was an example of that.

That had been the first time she’d properly looked at Hecate’s medical history. Much like HB herself it was…. opaque. There’d been a trip home during her fourth year as a student from which she had returned and required medical confinement. The details were sketchy at best as she recalled but Dimiti wondered if the two events were related. She just had no idea what it was that a girl of sixteen could possibly have done that would deserve… Once again she pushed those thoughts aside. 

“Well let’s treat the symptoms, make her comfortable and monitor her closely,” she said, trying to find solace. “I’m going to need to contact the specialist at the Healing Centre though I think.”

They had just reached the teacher’s corridor when one of the doors was flung open, and Ada appeared looking positively frantic.

“Help… Please, you need to help...” she said, leading them urgently through the small, orderly sitting room and into the bedroom.

“When did it start?” Julie asked, rounding the bed.

“Just… I think as soon as we rematerialised… I didn’t know what to do…I didn’t want to hurt her.”

“You were right not to try and restrain her,” Julie said before looking up at Dimiti. She’d summoned her medical case, kept immaculately stocked with far more than the basics by the woman currently in the grips of an extended grand mal seizure. Selecting a vial, Dimiti held it above the bed:  
 __  
“Send this potion strong and true,  
Through vein and sinew, making new  
Let it’s magic swell and fill,   
Settle, quiet, make her still.”  
  
The vial emptied, and after a moment where it felt all three of them held their collective breaths, the unnerving motion ceased.

“Was it something I did?” The Headmistress asked a moment later, her concern evident.

“No. At least, not intentionally. Maybe though… Given that you were frozen in the black spot, it’s likely that you’ve been drawing on the founding stone’s power more than you normally might each time that you cast . If this was a result of direct exposure to the stone’s new signature, then we need to remove her from it’s influence until her own magic has recovered.” Dimiti was decided on this point and geared up for a fight.

“I think I might have a solution for that,” Ada said, suddenly sounding much more sure of herself.

“You’re going to release her from this ridiculous binding?” Dimiti asked, more sharply than she had really intended. 

“It’s not as simple as that and I need you to understand that if it was, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” This was the Headmistress, a formidable force in a pink fluffy sweater. “There is a way though… When Hecate needed a clean space for some of her experimentation, I was able to create a bubble of sorts. Isolate an area of the castle from the effects of the founding stone.

“Would that be enough?” she asked finally, the uncertainty returning.

“It should be but is the spell something that someone else could cast?”

 

“I’m afraid not, if I make a conscious effort not to draw on the stone though hopefully my own magic wouldn’t cause her to react in the same way.” Dimiti looked at the other woman seriously. “It’s a question of priorities; Hecate can’t wait so I’ll simply have to be fine.”

It was a compelling argument, and despite her misgivings Dimiti knew Ada was right. She nodded her agreement.

__  
In this space and in this hour,  
Shield us from the founders power,   
Keep us free from outside force,  
And let this witches’ magic coarse.  
Safe and sound from hurt and harm,   
Heal her, protect her, with this charm.  


There was a snap of magic and suddenly all four of them were inside a shimmering barrier.

“Oh.” Julie’s soft exclamation at the strange new sensation, rang through the muted silence. “Miss Cackle?” Dimiti followed her gaze to where Ada was slumped against the edge of the bed.

“Fine. Just… tired.”

“Right,” she said deciding it really was time for her to take control. “Julie, would you keep an eye on HB?

“Of course,” the other woman replied. 

“Come on then,” Dimiti said, turning and helping Ada to stand. “ You need to be in bed but,” she said before the other woman could protest. “I’ll settle for resting on the sofa for now.”

“I’ll not fight you on that front,” Ada said quietly, the admission as telling as the slump of her shoulders.

By the time they made it as far as the sitting room, it seemed to be all the Headmistress could do to keep her eyes open. 

“Sleep,” Dimiti said gently, crouching next to the sofa once they’d got her lying down. “That’s the best thing for you. We’ll be here and we’ll look after everything.” It was so hard to equate the gentle, giving and compassionate woman before her now, the one she had known and trusted for more than a decade with a prison guard. 

The older woman was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow but Dimiti stayed, next to her for several minutes just watching as she breathed. Even unconscious, the frown lines between her eyes didn’t lift and that concern reassured Dimiti as much as it pained her. Whatever this mess was, Dimiti did trust Ada and she had to believe that the situation was more complicated than what she’d learnt so far. She ran a basic health check spell and wa reassured that while the other woman’s magical resources were low and she was showing signs of physical exhaustion there was nothing more concerning.

Returning to the bedroom, she found Julie perched on the edge of the bed, her hand resting on HB’s forehead. 

“How is Miss Cackle?” she asked, looking up.

“Exhausted. But she’s resting now. And Hecate?”

“Pulse and respiration are stable and seem more normal than before,” she reported confidently. “I think her temperature’s come down too,” she said. “But do you have a thermometer or…?”

“Yeah,” Dimiti said diving into her case. “There should be… here,” she said producing a mercury thermometer. Julie smiled, as she accepted it, mirth twinkling in her eyes. “What?” she asked the ordinary woman.

“Nothing, it’s just… a bit old school,” she said tucking it into their patient’s mouth. “We haven’t used these in the hospital since I was back in training.”

“Really?” Dimiti asked pulling out several more vials from her stocks.

“Yeah, we mostly use electronic infrared readers with disposable caps that go in the patient’s ear.”

“Hmm… we only have this for emergencies, mostly we just…” she wiggled her fingers.

“I can probably source you one if you like?” Julie offered. “They sell them at chemists these days. Right… let’s see what we have here. Thirty-nine and a bit. That’s high but not dangerous any more.”

“Good. It certainly looks like the bubble is helping but we’ll need to keep everyone else’s magic out if that’s to continue so it’ll be the ordinary way for the most part.”

“Well I’m happy to help in any way I can.”

“Much appreciated. Let’s get her into her nightdress shall we?” 

They worked well together and Julie took everything in her stride. Dimiti found a drawer of pristinely folded undergarments and selected a white sleeveless nightgown of lightweight cotton. By the time that Dimiti returned to the bed, Julie had removed HBs impressively tall boots, and had sat the other woman up against her shoulder so that she could peel down the top of her already unfastened dress. Dimiti assisted and the process of removing the heavy black brocade was relatively short. 

“There’s not much of her,” Julie said quietly. 

“There never is. She’s definitely lost weight recently though.”

“I’m sure I don’t know everything that’s happened, but I know that it’s not been the easiest of starts to the year,” Julie offered.

“No, it really hasn’t been. Still, we’ll need to keep an eye on it. Rebuilding a magical core will take fuel and she doesn’t have much in reserve. Right, let’s get her into this and under the covers,” she said, shaking out the night gown.

By the time they were done, there was a small frown between Hecate’s eyebrows indicating that she wasn’t as deeply out of it as she had been.

“HB?” Dimiti said, not really expecting an answer. “Everyone else is fine, we’re all safe and what you need to do now is rest. We’ll be here though, just in case.” It might have been her imagination but Dimiti felt as though the form on the bed relaxed further into the mattress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!   
> I hope you've enjoyed (and aren't too sad about the lack of cliff hanger!).  
> Thanks so much for reading!  
> Lx  
> @LHA_again


	4. Chapter 4

Julie considered herself to be fairly well versed in magic for an _ordinary_ person, but she felt like she had learned more in the last twelve hours than she had in the twelve months prior. Over the summer, she had noticed that she could sense when Mildred was using magic but it had never dawned on her that magic cast by other witches would feel so different. 

Mildred's spells felt fizy and exciting but the magic of the stone, and of Miss Cackle were distinctly different. The spell the headmistress's cast, isolating HB from the founding stone, felt soft and reassuring, much like the woman herself. Paying more attention to the sensation of the magic than she would have before, she was aware not only of the wave of Miss Cackle's magic but the strange dampened feeling that the lack of power then left.

“Oh.” The exclamation was out before she could stop it. The sight of the elder woman tilting towards the edge of the bed though, brought her back to reality with a bump. “Miss Cackle?” 

“Fine,” she said, not particularly convincingly. “Just… tired.”

“Right,” Dimiti said. “Julie, would you keep an eye on HB?” 

“Of course,” she agreed. Dimiti then turned to the Headmistress;

“Come on then. You need to be in bed but...” she held a hand up to stall the protest that was clearly coming. “I’ll settle for resting on the sofa for now.”

As Dimiti ushered the other woman away, Julie turned her attention back to the prone for lying on the bed.

“Well then,” she said quietly, sitting on the edge of the mattress. “Let’s start with some basic obs shall we?”

There was definite improvement, for which Julie was glad but she was clearly still deeply unconscious and unnaturally warm to the touch. The chemical thermometer that Dimiti pulled out of her bag of tricks on her return was like something out of the dark ages but it would do the job (as long as HB didn’t have another seizure and bite right through it). The need to keep the area sterile of magic as far as possible made sense and while she wasn’t used to relying on magic the same way Dimiti was, she was used to having equipment and at least basic pharmaceuticals to hand.

As the other woman searched for a nightgown, Julie removed HBs shoes and started to strip off the layers of heavy, stiff fabric. Without it, just how slim the other woman was and the extent of the scarring that covered her back and upper arms became obvious.

“There’s not much of her,” Julie said quietly, knowing it could be significant.

“There never is,” Dimity said with an air of fond concern. “She’s definitely lost weight recently though.”

“I’m sure I don’t know everything that’s happened,” Julie said slowly. She loved Mildred dearly but she knew that her daughter didn’t tell her everything and there was bound to be things that a student wasn’t even aware off. “But I know that it’s not been the easiest of starts to the year.”

“No, it really hasn’t been,” Dimity said, with an almost laugh. “Still, we’ll need to keep an eye on it. Rebuilding a magical core will take fuel and she doesn’t have much in reserve. Right, let’s get her into this and under the covers.”

Julie spotted that the other woman was moving closer to regaining consciousness as she ceased to be a dead weight. She always talked to her patients whether they were awake or not but she was glad when Dimiti spoke up, knowing how important it would be for Hecate to hear what she was saying. 

“Right,” Dimiti said looking towards her. “Tea? Something stronger?”

“I think we’re definitely due a glass of wine but tea would be great for now.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Dimiti said with a smile as she stood. “But I’m taking a rain check.”

They walked through the magical barrier and Julie shivered again amazed that she’d never really noticed the clear difference between the clear different the founding stone made to the atmosphere in the castle. Julie fetched a second chair from the sitting room while Dimiti made tea.

“You have to let the water come to the boil slowly,” she said conversationally. “Otherwise it tastes like dishwater.”

“There is nothing worse than a disappointing cup of tea,” Julie agreed taking the proffered mug.

“Well hopefully this tastes better than Miss Tapioca’s,” Dimiti said with a wink. Thank you,” she added lifting her own cup in Julie’s direction.

“You don’t need to say thank you, I’m just glad that I was able to help.”

“Well, here’s to you, saving us all and then sticking around to help out.”

“It’s hard to remember that it’s only been a few hours,” she said. “But I’m glad I’m not on shift tomorrow.”

“I forget that you were just going about your daily life when… How exactly did you end up coming here?”

“A little me, turned up and told me there was a problem. I’ve learnt that sometimes you just have to go with the flow when it comes to magical stuff.” Dimiti snorted at this.

“Seems like the only way to stay sane. Just say if you need away but you’d be welcome to a bed for the night?”

“That would be good. I’d like to see Mildred before she goes to bed but if you need to see to anything first…”

“I really should speak to the rest of the staff. We’ll need to check in with girls who were frozen and make sure that there’s someone on call tonight in case there are any upsets.” Dimiti checked the time, and ran a hand over her eyes. “In fact…”

“Go on. We’ll be ok,” Julie said.

“Here,” she said conjuring a bell. “You’ll need to leave it out here, but if you need help then just give it a ring and I’ll be right back.”

Alone with only the company of the two unconscious women, Julie couldn’t help but look more closely at her surroundings. There were clear signs that the rooms were home to someone and while they were far neater than her own flat, Julie could also see that their owner hadn’t expected to have company. She was just checking that Miss Cackle was still sleeping comfortably when a distressed sound from the bedroom made her start.

“No… Please…. No…” The protest was so utterly honest that even before she saw the look on HB’s face, her own heart was contracting.

“Miss Hardbroom,” she said, crossing the room and sitting on the edge of the bed. “Hecate? It’s ok, you’re safe.” 

“No! Please…” she cried out, her eye’s snapping open, rising from the pillow.

“Easy,” she said, laying a firm hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “You’re in your own bedroom. Everything is fine but you’re quite unwell.” Julie watched the panicked expression flitted across her face.

“I…” she said, growing increasingly agitated. “I need… I have to… the girls.” She seemed determined to get up and through an extraordinary feat of either determination or adrenalin fueled lunacy she fought her way to sit on the edge of the bed. That was as far as it went though and Julie ended up clambering across the mattress to stop the other woman taking a nosedive. Keeping hold of the trembling shoulders, she maneuvered herself around so that she was sitting beside her.

“The girls are fine,” she said, quietly. “They’re all safe downstairs, safe and sound. You kept them safe.” She could feel HB take a shuddering inhale, the fight coming out of her.

“Sorry… I think I’m….” Julie knew what she was saying before she said it and reached for the waste-paper basket she’d spotted earlier. There wasn’t anything but bile for her to bring up but it wanted out.

“Ok, it’s ok,” she said gently. Dimiti had unfastened HB’s braid when they’d gotten her into her nightdress, and she carefully moved her hair out of harm’s way.

“Sorry…” She was almost slurring as she tilted towards Julie. 

“Hecate?” she asked, leaning around and trying to see her face. “Come on, I need you to stay with me HB. Let me know you’re still awake.”

“I can see where Mildred gets her tenacity from.” It was so quiet that she almost missed it. 

“Careful,” she said with a gentle smile. “I could take that as a complement.”

“It was intended as one. She is a remarkable young woman.” Given that Hecate was clearly hanging onto consciousness by her fingertips, Julie wasn’t sure how to take this unexpected admission of admiration. “I’m sorry… she shouldn’t… I should have stopped her…” It took Julie a moment to realise what it was she was apologising for. 

“Enough,” she said firmly. “What happened today wasn’t your fault and you did everything you could to keep everyone safe. Now, I need to you to trust us that the students are safe and let us look after you.” Deciding that the lack of protest that followed was as good as she was going to get, Julie didn’t say any more. Instead, she rubbed a hand across Hecate’s back trying not to think too much about the prominent bones and scar tissue beneath her fingers. 

“That’s it,” she said quietly, as the other woman’s breathing began to settle. 

Julie hadn’t come down with the last shower of rain; she had known there was more to the fierce Deputy Head than she’d seen of her, or what Mildred had told her. She hoped that one of the things she had taught Mildred was that _everyone_ had a story. Still, she hadn’t been expecting what it was she had heard earlier or the surprising vulnerability she was seeing now.

“Do you think you could manage some water?” Julie asked after another few minutes.

“I should try.” Hecate reached for her pendant, presumably to check the time, but frowned when she didn’t find it.

“Your necklace is on the dresser there.” Julie watched as HB reached out and twisted her fingers, but it took her a fraction of a second to ralie what it was the other woman was doing. Or at least was trying to. 

“Uh.” The suppressed sound of anguish was entirely different from the clear distress of earlier but no less raw.

“The magic in the recharged stone wasn’t interacting well with your system,” Julie said quickly trying to cut off the panic. “We’ve had to isolate you from it so that your own magic can reassert itself. At least… that’s what I understand of it. But it will recover, it’s not like before.” This time she got a shaky nod in acknowledgement. 

“Well then, let’s get you some water. Then you can get some more sleep,” Julie continued. “Rest will do you the world of good medically and I can only assume it’ll help restore your magical reserves as well.”

“Thank you, Ms Hubble,” she said quietly, once they’d managed to negotiate her into sitting up against headboard.

“I think you’d better call me Julie at this point,” she said with a smile as she poured a glass of water. 

“Then thank you, _Julie_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoy this chapter and I'd love to hear your thoughts :)
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
> Lx  
> @LHA_again


	5. Chapter 5

Mildred was so caught up in the excitement of the celebration that she didn’t notice that there was something wrong at first. Miss Bat had been playing ages so when she stopped they all descended on the refreshment table and the jugs of squash.

“How long is your mum staying?” Maud asked.

“I don’t know,” Mildred said, looking around. She couldn’t see her mum, and now that she was looking she realised that she hadn’t seen HB, Miss Cackle or Miss Drill in the best part of an hour either. “What’re that lot up to?” she asked, spotting Sybil, Beatrice and Clarice talking animatedly in the corner.

“I don’t know but it’s definitely something,” Enid said. “Let’s go see.” Mildred was already crossing the floor.

“What’s the matter?” Maud asked, matter of factly. 

“HB is sick,” Sybil said, looking up at them from the bench.

“Like really properly sick,” Beatrice said, pulling a face.

“What kind of sick?” Enid asked.

“Miss Drill said she had a really high temperature,” Sybil said, biting her lip.

“And I think she must have been dizzy,” Clarice said. “Because she couldn’t get up off the floor and Miss Drill had to stop her tipping over.”

“And she was actually sick.” Beatrice cut in. “In a corridor!”

“Miss Drill had conjured a basin,” Clarice pointed out.

“But it was awful. She looked terrible,” Sybil almost cried.

“I’m sure Miss Drill will look after her,” Mildred said, trying to curb her own concern.

“She always makes us better when we’re sick,” Maud said. _’Or HB does…_ Mildred thought.

“You heard Mildred’s mum,” Beatrice said. “They’ll look after her.”

“My mum was there?” Mildred asked.

“She was talking to Miss Drill when I went to fetch her,” Bea said

“Oh, well that’s good. My mum’s a nurse,” she added.

“It has been ages though…” Bea said, her uncertainty growing.

“Oh look,” Enid said. “There’s Miss Drill.” Mildred turned to watch as Miss Drill spoke quietly and urgently with Mr Rowan-Webb. 

Mildred couldn’t make out what it was that she was saying but their faces were both pretty serious. Mr Rowan-Webb gestured across to where Miss Bat was standing, nodding sagely before they moved apart. It looked like Miss Drill was headed their way;

“Hello girls,” she said. “Can I get everyone who was frozen to come with me up to the Infirmary please.”

“Is everything alright?” Mildred asked.

“As I’m sure this lot have told you,” Miss Drill said with a knowing look at first years. “Miss Hardbroom isn’t very well. We just want to make sure that you’re all ok before we send you to bed for the night. Now, where are Ethel, Esmeralda and Felicity?”

It took them a few minutes to find everyone but as Miss Drill was shepherding them out Mildred could hear Miss Bat declare that there would be one more set of dancing before the All Hallows Eve celebration was at an end.

“Is my mum still here?” Mildred asked as they all followed Miss Drill down the corridor.

“She is. She’s looking after Miss Hardbroom at the moment and she’s going to stay overnight, but she’ll come and see you this evening.”

“That’s good,” Mildred said, she didn’t like the idea that her mum might have left without saying goodbye. “Is HB…” she trailed away not really know how to phrase her question. “Will she be okay?”

“She is quite unwell, but we’re looking after her now and,” she dropped her voice conspiratorially. “We both know that Miss Hardbroom is too stubborn not to put up a good fight.” Mildred couldn’t help but smile at that but a huge yawn snuck up on her unexpectedly. “It looks like the day’s catching up with you.” Miss Drill said, with a smile.

“I think I could sleep for days!” she agreed, covering her mouth as she yawned again. “I think that the rejuvenation potion Miss Hardbroom gave us has worn off.”

“And you’ve had a very tiring day. Once we’ve given you a quick once over, you can all get up to bed before the rest of the gaggle descend. Felicity?” Miss Drill asked.

“Mmmm?” Came the distant reply. Mildred turned to see that Felicity looked like she was already asleep standing up. 

“You first,” Miss Drill said as they entered the infirmary. With a flick of her hand she lit the sconces. “Take a seat ladies and I’ll be right with you.”

They all seemed to be crashing now, except for Esmeralda. Even Enid was quiet as she Mildred and Maud hopped up onto one of the beds. 

“I’m really glad you didn’t lose your magic Mildred,” Maud said quietly, her head tilting over so that it was resting on Mildred’s shoulder.

“Me too,” she agreed quietly. 

By the time that Miss Drill had given them all a check up, Felicity was out like a light and Mildred could barely keep her eyes open.

“Change of plans,” the teacher announced. “I want you all to stay here tonight so we can keep an eye on you.”

“But Miss Drill!” Ethel protested.

“Shush Ethel,” her elder sister said. 

“Don’t think that you are not still on very thin ice Ethel Hallow,” Miss Drill said sounding cross for this first time. Ethel crossed her arms but didn’t say anything else.

“I don’t mind keeping an eye on them,” Esmeralda continued walking over to where Miss Drill Was standing. 

“Are we sick like Miss Hardbroom?” Sybil asked. 

“No, there’s nothing wrong with you that a good night’s sleep won’t solve. I just want to make sure. Esmeralda, I’ll leave you in charge but you’re to ring this bell if you’re worried about something. There are spare pyjamas and nightgowns in the chest of drawers ladies and the toothbrushes are under the sink.”

As they all slowly began the process of getting ready to sleep, Miss Drill and Esmeralda spoke quietly in the corner. Esmé, with her magic so back for the first time in months, seemed to have energy to spare and Mildred watched absently as Miss Drill asked her to perform some more tests. She was looking serious but she seemed happy with the results and smiled as she patted Esmeralda on the arm. 

“Come on you lot,” she said once Miss Drill had left them. “I don’t want you to fall asleep before you’re tucked in.”

It was a near thing for Mildred. Maud had to elbow her in the ribs while they were brushing their teeth but she made it back to the ward and climbed into the bed she was directed at. Mildred was nestled into her pillow and on the very brink of oblivion when someone leant over and placed a kiss on her temple.

“Sleep well Milly-love. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Mildred sighed happily and fell asleep with a smile on her face. 

When she woke, it was to the sound of her own stomach rumbling.

“Is that you Mildred?” Enid asked from the bed behind her

“Yes,” she replied rolling over. “I could eat a scabby horse and then chase the driver!” Enid snorted.

“What?! I could. Even Miss Tapioca’s porridge sounds good.” Mildred said sitting up. 

“Well aren’t you lucky that it’s breakfast time in the main hall?” Esmeralda said, appearing between them still in her own nightgown. “Up and dressed quietly as you can and you can go on down,” she continued. “We’ll let the others sleep as long as they need to.”

“Maud!” hissed Enid once they were dressed and ready to go down to breakfast.

“Leave her alone,” Mildred said dragging her away by the arm. “We’ll see her when she wakes up.”

“I know but…” Enid protested and Mildred pulled them determinately out into the hallway.

“Good morning girls,” came a greeting from along the corridor.

“Miss Cackle!” Enid said with a smile.

“Morning Miss Cackle!” Mildred echoed.

“I trust you’ve slept well and are feeling quite like yourselves again?”

“Other than the fact we’re starving,” Enid said.

“Well in that case, breakfast awaits,” the headmistress said with a smile.

“What about you Miss Cackle?” Mildred asked, pausing as they turned to head back down the corridor. “Are you alright?”

“I’m quite well, thank you Miss Hubble.”

“And Miss Hardbroom?” Enid asked, pausing for the first time since they’d woken up.

“She is better than she was last night.”

“Will you let her know that we hope she gets well soon?” Mildred asked.

“And thank her for making sure we were ok,” Enid added. “She must have been feeling rotten but she still made sure we were okay after we thawed out.”

“I’ll be sure to pass on your regards,” Miss Cackle said, her eyes moist. “Now hurry along, I wouldn’t want you to fade away to nothing before you make it to breakfast.”

“Thanks Miss Cackle!” Mildred called as Enid grabbed her hand and dragged her away.

While the breakfast tables were much more sedate than the party had been the previous night, there was quiet chatter flowing back and forth between the students. Now that the initial excitement of the evacuation had passed it seemed that all anyone was talking about was what had happened in the castle while they were away.

“...She’s been arrested...”

“...dead! Jane saw Miss Drill collecting ingredients for a resurrection draught.”

“Miss Hardbroom is not dead,” Mildred said calmly but loudly enough to be heard, as she filled her bowl with porridge. There was a pause, almost as though they all expected HB to appear and prove the point.

“Morning Milly,” her mum said coming up behind her and squeezing her shoulder. “Miss Hardbroom is resting and categorically not dead,” she said lightly, stretching over to help herself to toast.

“Morning Mum!” Mildred turned around and beamed at her mother. “Come and sit with us?”

“Just a flying visit,” she said. “I’m nipping home, but I’ll be back later this morning.”

“You’re coming back?” she asked quietly.

“Just to give Miss Drill a hand, love. I promise I won’t cramp your style.”

“Oh, well that’s okay. I’ll see you later?” 

“Promise. Try not to burn the place down while I’m gone?”

“I never _try_ to get into trouble.”

“I know you don’t love. Now eat your breakfast and enjoy your day off and I’ll see you later.”

“See you later,” Mildred said putting down her bowl so she could hug her properly. “Love you Mum. Thanks.”

“Love you too, Milly,” she said squeezing her close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not to jinx anything but I'm on a bit of roll...
> 
> Hope you enjoyed and thank you reading!  
> Lx


	6. Chapter 6

Hecate looked around her, shivering as the cold seeped into her bones. The founding stone was dark, everyone else frozen solid and yet here she was, shivering but not yet bound in ice. This was the moment; if there were to be a drastic act to save the day, this was the moment for it and Hecate knew with absolute certainty that she was the only one who could make the sacrifice required. 

Stepping up to the stone she opened her hands and taking a deep breath began;  
_To restore the stone,_  
I give my magic away,  
And the magic of…  
  
But nothing was happening. There was no magic coursing or surging through her ready to be directed. There wasn’t even a spark. 

Twisting her hand she tried to relocate to the other side of the room but nothing happened. She attempted to conjure a simple flower and then tried half a dozen other pieces of magic she normally used a hundred times a day but there was just nothing there. She glanced around, frantic at the sight of the frozen students and knowing that there was only one way to save them. She needed to cast this spell and to cast the spell she needed magic. If she didn’t have any magic then she needed to find something that did.

There was a shattering and splintering sound behind her and Hecate turned on the spot, just in time to see Ethel Hallow disintegrating into powder.

“No…!” she cried out, clamping a hand over her mouth as she took a step to where the young girl had stood only moments before. There was another crack and she couldn’t even bring herself to turn in the direction of the sound and look. She had to find some magic somewhere, enough to reignite the stone. There must be something somewhere in the school that hadn’t been entirely extinguished. 

The tower room they were in was almost empty so she fled to the door and down the stairs, scouring her mind for where there might be something, anything that might have escaped the touch of the frost. Reaching the hallway below though, she stopped aghast; there were frozen students everywhere, terrified faces staring out at her from inside cubes of ice. They were reaching out, as though trying to grab her as she stood there frozen for an entirely different reason. Hadn’t they evacuated the school? Had these students all come back? She had hoped that they at least had been safe.

“What were you thinking?!” The hissed accusation echoed down the halls. “How could you have done this?!” Her mother seemed to be a long way away and Hecate couldn’t see her but there was no doubt that it was her nonetheless. It had been nearly three decades but there was no chance that she would ever forget that tone. Taking a shuddering a breath, Hecate tried to tune out the sound of her Mother as she turned and pulling up her skirt ran towards the far side of the school. 

The sound of ice shattering and the bite of the accusations followed her, echoing off the stone. She tried desperately not to look at the faces of the students around her. 

“You’re an embarrassment!” The vehemence in the whispered threat made it all the more terrifying. “An insult to the craft and to this family. Why we ever thought otherwise is beyond me.”

“I’m trying to fix it…” she whispered, mostly to herself.

“How dare you think that you have the right to even try! You are going to be stripped of everything girl and you will be alone and _ordinary_. And you deserve no better. You have shamed us all!”

The air around her was biting cold which somehow made the strings of fire that whipped across her back all the more severe. But they weren’t really lashing her now though were they? That had happened before, years ago, like the insults that were chasing her. Her mother wasn’t there, couldn’t be there. This wasn’t right, none of it. Was she hallucinating? Why hadn’t she been frozen too? 

She kept moving. The basement level at the west of the castle had the best chance of being untouched by the spreading frost. If she could just find something with a spark of magic left. If she could get it back to allow her to cast the spell and initiate the transference then she was sure the rest would follow. She would gladly give anything it took, give it all. Her very blood would be no more of an ask than her magic but she would gladly give it for Indigo Moon, or Ada, or any one of her students never mind what was in the balance now. She turned into the staircase, her feet sliding out from under her and sending her straight to the floor.

“Hecate?” This voice was equally familiar but like day to the other’s night. “Hiccup? Are you there?” 

“Pippa?” she breathed as her heart screamed _’Nooooo!’_ She shouldn’t here, there was no reason for her to be here too.

“Where were you Hecate? Why weren’t you there?” She could see this Pippa, young and eager still so innocent in her ferocious anger. “You let me down.” Pippa said it so differently to Hecate’s mother. Her mother who had demanded she come back to the estate, who was waiting for her so that she could dole out her own punishment. Her mother who was chasing her down now. 

“Hecate? What’s the matter?” Pippa asked. She sounded closer now, but Hecate could see nothing but the frozen landscape of the school. The sound of shattering behind her made her turn as the ice-cubes containing a first year and two fifth year students crumbled into dust.

She couldn’t stop. She had to fix this. Had to stay away from her mother had to save as many students as she could. Had to make this right. 

“Hecate dear?” Ada asked. Hecate blinked and suddenly Ada was there sitting next to her.

“How…?” Ada should have been in the potions lab still, but here she was alive and warm.

“It’s alright dear, you can stop.” There was a hand on her knee, comforting and entirely out of place. 

“But…?” Hecate asked, entirely lost as to what was happening in front of her. “The Students Ada, they’re dying. They’re… I have to… we have to relight the stone.”

“The stone has been charged Hecate,” Ada said calmly. “The student’s are well.”

“No! I…” she turned around wanting to see for herself the students still trapped. There was nothing there though. Nothing but her own bedroom. “Wha…?”

“You were having a nightmare Hecate. The stone is lit, the girls are safe.”

“Pippa?” she asked, trying desperately to regain control of her breathing. 

“I’m right here Hiccup, in the mirror.” She sounded upset. Hecate didn’t understand.

“You… you weren’t frozen? You shouldn’t have been there but you… You can’t be here.” 

“Miss Pentangle called while you were in distress,” Ada said, still holding her hands firmly in her grasp, her thumbs rubbing in gentle circles. “It’s possible that your subconscious wove her into your nightmare.”

“I…” Hecate said. “Sorry…”

“There’s no need to apologise. Just take a minute.”

“I’m going to go,” Pippa said from above them. “I’ll set off as soon as I can Ada, and I should be with you in a few hours.”

“Travel safely dear. And thank you for letting us know.”

 

“I’ll be there soon Hiccup.” Hecate didn’t reply, too caught up in trying to find the reality in amongst the haze of her memory. 

“Hecate? Hecate dear?” Ada was saying. “Slowly. That’s it, breath slowly now.”

“The founding stone?” she asked again.

“It was extinguished but it is now relit.”

“I can’t feel it,” she said quietly.

“We’ve had to create a clean space for you. The magic the stone was recharged with isn’t reacting well with your own. You’ve been really very unwell Hecate.”

It was coming back to her now, Mildred Hubble’s mother had been here. The other woman had already explained what had happened. Hecate remembered tha now, but somehow it felt less real than the sound of those shattering cubes of ice and the students they contained. 

“No one… I didn’t…. They’re all ok?”

“They are my dear and so will you be,” Ada said calmly, running a hand over her shoulders. “We’ll get you back into bed and then maybe you’d like some tea…” Hecate let Ada’s voice wash over her as with a final tremble her taut muscles relaxed leaving her collapsed against the side of the bed and the older woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while - but hopefully worth the wait!
> 
> Lx

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you've enjoyed! I'd love to hear your thoughts here or over on twitter (@LHA_again)  
> Thanks for reading  
> Lx


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